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Spanish  Colonial  Municipalities 


By  Herbert  Ingram  Priestley,  Ph.  D. 

Librarian  of  the  Bancroft  Library  and  Associate  Professor  of  Mexican  History 
in  the  University  of  California 


i'O 


Reprint  from  The  Louisiana  Historical  Quarterly 
April,  1922. 


SPANISH  COLONIAL  MUNICIPALITIES 


By  Herbert  Ingram  Priestley,  Ph.  D. 

Librarian  of  the  Bancroft  Library  and  Associate  Professor  of 
Mexican  History  in  the  University  of  California. 


This  article  was  originally  printtd  in  the  California  Law  Review  for  September, 
1919,  and  translated  into  Spanish  by  Genaro  Estrada  and  published  as  Municipali- 
dades  cnloniales  espanolas,  Mexico,  1921.  It  is  republished  by  the  Louisiana  His- 
torical Quarteily  with  the  consent  of  Mr.  Piiestley  and  we  are  quite  sure  that  Lou- 
isiana students  of  Spanish  institutions  in  Louisiana  will  be  quick  to  appreciate  this 
very  valuable  contribution  to  a  subject  that  up  to  this  time  has  been  very  inadequately 
treated  here  or  elsewhere. 

With  the  light  thrown  on  the  subject  by  Mr.  Priestley's  essay,  many  of  the  mis- 
understood features  of  the  Spanish  Cabildo  in  Louisiana  will  be  restored  to  their  true 
position    in    our    history.  HENRY    P.    DART. 


Spanish  Colonial  Municipalities. 

The  municipal  organization  of  Castile,  transferred  to  Amer- 
ica soon  after  the  advent  of  Columbus,  began  to  function  with 
no  lack  of  vitality.  The  first  conquerors  brought  to  the  New 
World  a  traditional  love  of  liberty  and  a  spirit  of  strong  local 
autonomy  which  promised  fair  for  development  in  the  conquered 
and  colonized  territory.  But  during  the  sixteenth  century  the 
Spanish  peninsular  municipio  was  reduced  from  its  earlier  im- 
portance and  power,  being  subjected  to  centralized  control  by 
officers  of  the  crown.  These  were  the  gobernadores,  corregidores, 
and  alcaldes  mayores,  who  went  out  to  hold  the  local  areas  in  the 
name  of  the  national  authority.  These  centrally  appointed  of- 
ficers substituted  for  the  direct  democracy  guaranteed  by  the 
municipal  fueros,  (charters),  and  for  the  system  of  local  legisla- 
tion arising  from  the  petitions  of  the  towns  through  their  procu- 
radores,  a  direct  central  legislation  under  royal  cedulas,  cartas, 
and  instrucciones.  Thus,  through  the  conflict  of  the  monarchs  with 


2  Spanish  Colonial  Municipalities 

the  towns  was  eliminated  the  initiative  of  earlier,  more  in- 
dependent days.' 

The  significant  characteristic  of  these  peninsular  cabildos 
(town  corporations)  before  the  epoch  of  Charles  V  was  the  posses- 
sion of  rights  similar  to  those  which  had  been  won  by  Englishmen 
in  their  struggle  for  political  liberty  under  their  kings.  The  Span- 
ish townsmen  had  established  under  their  fueros  the  equality  of 
all  the  citizens  before  the  law.  The  character  of  the  vecino 
(townsman)  was  superior  to  all  social  distinctions.  This  equality 
was  considered  essential  for  wise  government  of  the  commune, 
and  if  any  counts,  knights,  or  other  noblemen  should  come  to 
settle  in  it  they  must  become  subject  to  the  same  restrictions,  in- 
cluding death  penalties  for  certain  crimes,  as  the  earlier  settlers. 

In  the  Spanish  towns  the  principle  of  the  inviolability  of  the 
domicile  was  well  recognized.  It  was  not  the  Englishman  alone 
who  could  claim  that  his  house  was  his  castle.  Violation  of  this 
right  was  punished  by  the  severest  penalty,  even  death.  In  the 
fueros  of  Cuenca  and  Sanabria  the  method  of  entering  the  domi- 
cile under  the  authority  of  search  warrant  is  prescribed  with  the 
same  precaution  and  respect  for  the  rights  of  the  inhabitants  as 
are  shown  in  the  most  modern  legislation. 

Furthermore,  justice  was  dispensed  to  the  citizen  by  his 
peers,  chosen  by  him  or  by  his  counsel,  save  in  matters  wherein 
the  royal  jurisdiction  intervened.  No  man  might  be  deprived  of 
life  or  property,  nor  be  arrested  by  the  merinos  (king's  justices) 
except  in  matters  on  which  the  local  judges  had  already  passed 
sentence.  If  the  merinos  passed  such  sentences,  they  were  to  be 
disobeyed. 

Every  man  had  a  right  to  participate  in  public  affairs.  He 
shared  in  the  election  of  magistrates.  The  authority  of  the  town 
government  was  based  on  popular  election;  this  constituted  the 
legitimate  sanction  of  the  officer  in  the  exercise  of  his  duties  un- 
der the  local  fueros.  No  confirmation  of  his  powers  from  any  au- 
thority outside  of  the  municipality  was  necessary;  not  even  the 
king  had  any  intervention  in  the  naming  of  the  municipal  of- 
ficers.-^ 


'R.  Altamlra,  fHatoria  de  Eapana  ii  de  la  civiliaacidn  espaiioln,     II,     483;     Carlos 
Navarro  y  Lnmarca.  Compendia  de  la  historia  general  de  AmMca,  II.  339. 

»J.  A.  Garcfa.  La  ciudad  indiana,  161. 


Spanish  Colonial  Municipalities  3 

With  respect  to  the  responsibility  of  the  officers  of  the  Castil- 
ian  city,  the  ancient  legislation  provided  more  amply,  perhaps, 
than  does  much  of  the  modern.  "Injuries  caused  to  citizens  were 
to  be  compensated  for  doubly  if  by  an  officer ;  infractions  of  the 
fueros  or  deception  in  controlling  public  interests  were  punished 
severely  as  breaches  of  trust  by  loss  of  position.  Instead  of  form- 
ing a  shield  for  iniquity,  municipal  office  brought  upon  an  offend- 
er punishment  twice  as  severe  as  that  imposed  in  like  case  upon 
the  private  citizen,  the  public  trust  being  construed  as  aggravat- 
ing the  offense."^ 

All  this  was  absent  in  the  Spanish-American  municipality. 
The  guarantees  of  the  citizen  were  wanting.  There  was,  too,  the 
lack  of  forceful  union  between  the  towns,  union  which  had  in 
Spain  given  stability  and  respectability  to  the  pretensions  of  the 
local  entities.  This  had  been  secured  through  the  Santa  Herman- 
diad,  which  in  the  earlier  times  constituted  the  visible  arm  of  the 
united  power  of  Castilian  towns.  But  in  America  this  source  of 
dignity  and  power  was  at  first  altogether  lacking ;  when  the  Her- 
mandad  did  appear,  it  was  as  the  arm  and  token  of  the  central 
authority,  imposed  from  above  for  the  protection  of  the  roads 
against  highwaymen.  Serving  as  an  attempt  to  guarantee  safety 
in  the  interstices  between  the  areas  controlled  by  the  municipal- 
ities, the  Hermandad  lent  none  of  its  majesty  to  the  local  govern- 
ment, and  served  rather  to  aggrandize  the  central  control  and  pre- 
vent development  of  local  autonomy. 

As  far  as  form  went,  however,  the  local  units  of  the  New 
World  modeled  their  government  upon  that  of  the  towns  of  Spain. 
Municipal  organizations,  provided  for  under  Columbus,  and  ex- 
tended throughout  La  Espafiola  in  1507,  began  to  exist  wherever 
a  group  of  Spaniards  was  numerous  enough  to  require  social  con- 
trol. By  the  last  quarter  of  the  sixteenth  century  there  were  at 
least  two  hundred  such  organizations  in  the  Spanish  Indies,  under 
the  designation  of  ciudad,  pueblo,  or  villa.  In  some  places  the 
name  lugar  (literally  "place")  was  used  to  designate  the  pueblo, 
but  the  latter  word  was  used  in  most  cases  to  designate  settle- 
ments other  than  mining  camps  (reales  de  minas)  not  large 
enough  to  be  called  ciudades.  In  the  period  last  mentioned  a  num- 
ber of  the  earliest  towns  had  died  with  the  shifting  movements 
incidental  to  continental  settlement  when  once  the  larger  land 


'Garcia,  Op.  et  loc.  cit. 


4  Spanish  Colonial  Municipalities 

masses  had  been  found  to  excel  the  insular  holdings  in  opportun- 
ity for  enrichment. 

Essentially,  whatever  the  designation,  all  the  municipalities 
enjoyed  the  same  legal  status.  There  were  minor  variations  in  the 
composition  of  the  official  governing  body,  the  elaborateness  of 
the  organization  corresponding  to  development  in  size.  Black- 
mar,  who  shows  the  derivation  of  the  Spanish  towns  from  the 
Roman  ones  in  Spain,  points  out  clearly  that,  whatever  might 
have  been  the  variety  of  the  organization  of  the  peninsular  towns, 
there  was  practical  uniformity  in  style  of  organization  in  the 
colonial  municipalities.  Bernard  Moses  draws  attention  to  the 
fact  that  the  colonial  cities  might  owe  their  origin  to  development 
from  an  Indian  mission  or  from  a  presidio,  or  that  they  might  be 
founded  outright  as  cities  by  an  individual  conqueror  or  by  a 
group  of  settlers  voluntarily  associated  for  the  purpose.*  These 
variations  in  origin  meant,  however,  no  diversity  in  character 
among  the  municipal  entities  once  they  were  organized.  This  uni- 
formity was  due  to  the  existence  of  early  general  legislation  and 
to  the  absence  of  those  special  frontier  conditions  which  had  in 
Spain  made  the  successive  reconquests  from  the  Moors  the  basis 
for  grants  of  widely  divergent  fueros  and  special  privileges.'' 

In  all  of  the  municipalities  the  essential  officers  were  the 
regidores  (town  councilmen).  Their  number  was  variable,  rang- 
ing from  four  in  the  small  villas  to  eight  in  the  large  ciudades 
and  to  twelve  in  the  capitals,  as  for  instance  Mexico  and  Lima. 
Their  importance  was  due  to  the  fact  that  thev  had  power  of 
decision  in  matters  of  routine  administration,  and  because  from 
their  number  were  annually  chosen  the  alcaldes  ordinarios  (muni- 
cipal judges,  usually  two  in  number)  and  the  alferez  (herald), 
whose  function  it  was  to  bear  the  municipal  banner  on  festal  days. 
In  occasional  instances,  the  alferez  was  also  a  regidor.  After  the 
inception  of  the  Hermandad  in  the  New  World,  its  alcaldes  were 
chosen  from  among  the  alcaldes  ordinarios;  this  was  later  than 


*Frank  W.  Blackmar,  Spamfh  Institutions  of  the  Rnuthir.cst  (Johns  Honkins 
Studies  in  Historv  and  Political  Scisnc?,  Extra  Volume  X.  Baltimore.  1891).  Ciiap. 
VIII,  "Spanish  Colonial  MunicipaMties" :  B'^rnard  Mrses.  "The  Bstablishmpnt  of 
Municipal  Government  in  San  Francisco"  (Johns  Hopkins  University  Studies  in  His- 
tory and  Political  Scimci',  Seventh  Series,  Nos.  II,  III.  February  and  March.  18,S9). 

''I-.ei?islation  covering  foundation  of  early  nnmicinalities  Is  found  in  Qrdenamaa 
aobre  drstyiihrimicnto  nuevo  }/  poblaci6ii,  in  Coleccidii  de  dorHtnentos  in^ditos  rela- 
tix'oa  al  descubrimiruto,  conqniata  y  orgnnizacidn  de  las  antiguas  poaesiones  espaiiolaa 
de  America  y  Oceania,  Tom.  8  pp.  484-527.  This  legislation  was  afterward  largely  In- 
corporated In  the  Rcropilaci6n  de  Ivdias.  The  general  law  has  been  recapitulated  by 
O.  Garfield  Jones  under  the  title  "Ixjcal  government  In  the  Spanish  colonies  as  pro- 
vided by  the  Recopilaridn  de  leyea  de  loa  Reynoa  de  laa  Indiaa",  In  The  Southwestern 
Historical  Quarterly,  Vol.  19,  pp.  65-90. 


Spanish  Colonial  Municipalities  5 

the  beginnings  of  municipal  administration ;  in  Lima,  for  instance, 
the  alcaldes  of  the  Hermandad  did  not  appear  until  1560."  In  New 
Spain  the  alcaldes  of  the  mesta,  or  grazers'  guild,  appear  among 
the  list  of  annually  elected  municipal  officers  until  well  toward 
the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century." 

The  number  of  regidores  varied  from  one  period  to  another, 
as  well  as  in  classes  of  towns.  In  the  Ordenanzas,  cited  above, 
it  was  provided  that  the  governor  of  a  new  territory  within  which 
a  city  was  to  be  erected  should  make  declaration  whether  the  new 
establishment  was  to  be  designated  a  ciudad,  villa,  or  lugar 
{pueblo).  The  government  of  a  metropolitan  city  was  to  con- 
tain one  alcalde  mayor  or  corregidor,  he  being  characteristically 
the  appointee  of  the  central  or  provincial  power.  In  his  hands 
was  to  be  placed  the  jurisdiction  in  solidum.  The  capitular es 
(town  officials)  designated  in  accordance  with  the  colonizing 
grant,  were  to  be  the  three  oficiales  reales  (treasury  officers), 
twelve  regidores,  two  jueces  ejecutores,  and  a  small  number  of 
accessory  executive  and  clerical  subordinates.  Two  of  these  were 
the  jurados,  one  of  whom  was  prescribed  for  each  parish  in  the 
new  settlement,  perhaps  the  prototypes  of  the  later  alcaldes  de 
barrio  of  the  eighteenth  century.  The  procurador  general,  known 
as  time  went  on  as  the  sindico  (city  attorney),  was  a  man  of 
recognized  ability,  social  category,  and  political  influence  in  the 
community.^ 

For  the  smaller  settlements,  known  as  villas,  pueblos,  or  lu- 
gares,  the  Ordenanza  of  1563  provided  one  alcalde  ordinario,  four 
regidores,  one  alguacil  or  bailiff,  and  some  mjnor  officers.  Here 
the  alcalde  mayor  or  corregidor  was  wanting ;  this  would  indicate 
that  municipal  life  was  more  free  from  the  trammels  of  supervi- 
sion in  the  smaller  places,  or  that  the  alcalde  mayor  extended  his 
control  to  the  lesser  from  the  larger  settlements,  as  later  came  to 
be  the  rule. 

In  the  closing  years  of  the  colonial  epoch,  the  number  of 
regidores  was  set  at  twelve  for  the  larger  cities;  |ight  was  the 
number  considered  proper  for  Guanajuato  and  San  Luis  Potosi  in 
New  Spain,  while  most  of  the  smaller  towns  were  to  have  six.  In 
the  City  of  Mexico  there  were  fifteen.'* 


•Altamita,   Historia   de   Espaiia,  II,    313. 

■'A.  Cavo,  I, OS  Tres  siglos  de  Mexico,  passfun. 

*Lucas  AlamS,n,  Historia  de  Mejico,  I,  58.  J.  N.  Rodriguez  de  San  Miguel,  Manual 
de  providenoias  economico-politicas  para  uso  de  los  habitantes  del  Distrito  Federal, 
215. 

»Cf.   Alaman,   Op.  cit..  I.    57.  and  Altamira,    Op.   cit..  III.   314. 


6  Spanish  Colonial  Municipalities 

The  method  of  choice  of  the  city  officers  was  subject  to 
notable  variation.  In  new  conquests  it  was  usually  the  privilege 
of  the  leader  of  the  expedition  (governor,  adelantado,  captain- 
general,  or  whatever  was  his  title),  to  nominate  the  first  set  of 
officers  for  the  towns  erected  within  the  area  of  his  roughly 
delimited  royal  grant.  This  power  was  conceded  by  specific  per- 
mission contained  in  the  conqueror's  capitulacion  or  grant,  as  in 
the  case  of  Pizarro  at  Lima  (1535),  of  Pedro  de  Alvarado  at  San- 
tiago de  los  Caballeros  (1524),  and  in  numerous  other  cases.'"  If 
this  privilege  was  not  specified  in  the  capitulacion,  the  munici- 
pality was  organized  by  means  of  an  election  in  whch  participated 
every  free  member  of  the  expedition ;  nomination  by  the  con- 
queror was,  however,  the  normal  and  more  usual  method.  Usual- 
ly, when  the  first  group  so  appointed  or  elected  had  served  a  nat- 
ural year,  which  was  the  prescribed  term  of  office,  the  retiring 
regidores  designated  their  successors ;  certain  conquerors,  Pizarro 
and  Alvarado  again  as  illustrations,  named  the  successors.  Until 
1621  or  1622  the  oficiales  reales  or  treasury  officials,  whose  prin- 
cipal duty  it  was  to  care  for  the  interests  of  the  king's  revenues, 
sat  in  the  municipal  cabildos  "with  voice  and  vote."  Restrictions 
on  this  practice  had  begun  in  1567,  when  the  oficiales  reales  were 
forbidden  to  serve  as  alcaldes. 

The  periodical  renovation  of  the  city's  governing  body  was 
attained  not  only  by  the  annual  election,  but  also  by  the  provision 
that  no  regidor  might  be  re-elected  until  one  year  had  elapsed 
since  his  term  of  service ;  in  the  case  of  the  alcaldes  ordinarios  at 
least  two  years  must  have  so  elapsed.  The  efficiency  of  this  inhi- 
bition was  largely  nullified  in  practice  by  the  rotation  in  office  of 
members  of  a  few  allied  families,  who  maintained  oligarchical 
control  in  alternation. 

It  was  the  royal  intention,  as  evinced  in  the  earlier  legisla- 
tion, to  prevent  the  central  authority,  represented  by  the  vice- 
roys and  governors,  from  intervening  in  municipal  elections,  but 
the  laws  to  thp  effect  were  nullified  in  practice  by  the  central  of- 
ficers, who  had  the  legally  prescribed  power  to  confirm  or  dis- 
approve the  annual  elections.  An  instance  of  such  interference 
occurred  in  Buenos  Aires  in  1590,  despite  the  efforts  of  the  cahildo 
to  prevent.  Again  in  1609  Governor  Saavedra  of  Buenos  Aires 
named  an  alguacil  (marshal)  "with  voice  and  vote"  in  the  cahildo. 


'"In  the  towns  which  sprang  up  about  the  presidios,  the  municipal  cahildo  might 
remain  absent  for  a  long  period,  as  In  the  case  of  San  Francisco,  California,  which 
existed  from  1776  to  1834,  without  the  cabildo  organization,  Moses,   Op.  cit.,  17-18. 


Spanish  Colonial  Municipalities  7 

The  perpetual  regidores  (of  whom  more  later)  acceded  to  the 
illegal  appointment,  but  the  elective  regidores  resisted  until  the 
governor  coerced  them  by  a  fine  of  five  hundred  pesos  each.  Not 
only  fines,  but  imprisonment,  resorted  to  repeatedly  by  governors, 
served  to  enforce  their  predominance,  v^hich  brooked  no  opposi- 
tion. So  far  was  the  practice  carried  that  men  refused  to  accept 
municipal  office,  like  the  senators  of  the  Roman  Spanish  towns, 
until  fines  were  imposed  to  oblige  them  to  accept. 

Not  only  was  the  elective  faculty  overridden  to  a  large  ex- 
tent by  the  viceroys  and  governors;  still  another  feature  of  ad- 
ministration served  to  reduce  it.  This  was  the  practice  of  selling 
offices,  due  to  the  impecunious  condition  of  the  Spanish  crown. 
The  Catholic  Kings  had  forbidden  the  sale  of  offices,  and  Juana 
la  Loca  had  restricted  it  to  non-judicial  offices;  by  the  end  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  however,  the  practice  had  become  settled  and 
general.  Frequently  public  offices  were  disposed  of  by  auction 
to  the  highest  bidder.  In  Buenos  Aires  in  1644  a  number  of 
legidorships  were  auctioned,  bringing  revenues  from  eight  hun- 
dred and  fifty  to  twelve  hundred  and  fifty  pesos.  The  position  of 
alcalde  de  la  Hermandad,  thus  disposed  of  in  1671,  produced  thir- 
teen hundred  pesos.  Lesser  municipal  offices,  as  those  of  escri- 
bano  (notary)  and  alguacil  mayor,  were  leased  or  farmed  for  a 
lump  sum  to  be  covered  by  the  incumbent  from  fees  collected. ^^ 

Navarro  y  Lamarca,  following  several  writers  of  the  epoch 
during  which  the  practice  of  selling  offices  was  in  vogue,  thinks 
that  the  system  has  been  overcriticised,  and  that  the  men  who 
bought  offices  were  more  inclined  to  administer  them  conscien- 
tiously than  were  the  "irresponsible  and  voracious  minions  of  the 
viceroys."  The  same  author  calls  to  attention  the  fact  that  Mon- 
tesquieu considered  the  practice  advantageous  and  perfectly 
proper.^-  Insofar  as  his  efficiency  was  concerned,  it  may  be  safely 
asserted  that  whether  the  position  of  the  regidor  was  obtained  by 
purchase  or  by  election,  that  accident  was  of  less  importance  in 
determining  his  value  to  the  State  than  was  the  fact  that  the 
whole  political  heirarchy  of  the  Spanish  empire,  colonial  and 
peninsular  alike,  was  characterized  by  malfeasance  and  graft- 
with  such  notable  exceptions  that  honesty  in  office  was  the  crown- 
ing virtue  whereby  many  names  of  colonial  administration  have 
become  conspicuous  if  not  illustrious. 


"Garcia,   La  ciudad  Indiana,  170-171. 

'^^Op.  cit.,  II,    341,   note   1,   citing  L'Esprit  de   lois.  Cap.    XIX,    Cf.    E.    B.    Bourne. 
Spain  in  A'merica,  227-229. 


^  Spanish  Colonial  Municipalities 

One  very  notable  effect  of  the  sale  of  offices  was  the  tend- 
ency of  the  central  authority  to  increase  unduly  the  number  of 
them  for  the  sake  of  the  revenue  thus  produced,  regardless  of  the 
consequence  to  efficiency.  This  caused  a  cynical  attitude  toward 
tenure  of  office  which  did  not  a  little  to  destroy  the  public  spirit 
of  the  colonists.  The  customary  sale  of  the  office  of  regidor  seems 
at  no  time  to  have  eliminated  completely  the  feature  of  election 
of  at  least  part  of  the  municipal  corporation.  Six  of  the  regidores 
of  the  City  of  Mexico  were  elected  every  two  years  by  the  per- 
petual regidores,  who  held  by  purchase  or  inheritance ;  this  at  the 
close  of  the  eighteenth  century.^-^  The  power  to  appoint  perpe- 
tuos  had,  indeed,  been  held  by  some  of  the  earliest  conquerors; 
Pizarro,  by  the  terms  of  his  capitulacion,  could  name  three  of 
them.  The  purchase  of  the  regiduria  perpetua  by  well-to-do  fam- 
ilies gave  in  time  to  the  Creole  families  of  colonial  society  their 
one  avenue  of  admission  into  participation  in  la  cosa  puhlica, 
though  it  is  true  that  at  times,  through  default  of  suitable  Span- 
iards, the  Creoles  came  into  control  of  the  audiencias  (supreme 
courts  of  justice  with  certain  administrative  functions).  It  may 
be  little  doubted  that  the  preponderance  of  the  creole  element  in 
'  the  cahildos  was  one  of  the  compelling  motives  for  the  policy  pur- 
sued by  the  Spanish  government  in  emasculating  these  as  au- 
thoritative bodies. 

So  much,  briefly,  for  organization  and  perpetuation  of  the 
cabildo.  Of  equal  interest  is  the  subject  of  the  general  powers  of 
the  municipal  corporation.  These  were  both  administrative  and 
judicial  for  their  areas,  but  their  range  was  limited  by  the  original 
grant  of  privileges,  and  more  especially  as  time  elapsed,  by  the 
issue  of  ordinances  for  municipal  guidance  by  the  viceroys  and 
audiencias.  The  general  laws  of  the  Recopilacion  de  Indias  com- 
bined with  these  ordinances  to  reduce  the  initiative  of  the  city 
government  to  a  minimum.  Judicial  functions  were  supposed  to 
be  exercised  by  the  alcaldes  ordinarios  in  first  instance  in  both 
civil  and  criminal  suits.  In  civil  suits  involving  certain  sums  the 
cabildo  was  a  court  of  appeal  also  from  the  decisions  of  the 
alcaldes;  it  might  itself  be  appealed  to  from  the  governor,  though 
the  practice  of  the  audiencias  of  sending  out  special  judges  for 
causes  of  consequence  gradually  limited  the  bases  for  appeals 
which  would  normally  have  gone  through  the  municipal  courts.^* 


"'InmAn,  vhi  8n»ra,  n.   S. 

"Hlp6Uto   Villaroel.    Kvfrrmedndea    pnliticas    que    padece   eata    capital    dc    Nucva 
Enpat'ni.  MS.  Tom.  I.   pnrte  2a,   folios  95-102. 


Spanish  Colonial  Micnicipalities  9 

In  affairs  of  administration  the  cabildo  was  theoretically  in- 
dependent in  everything  that  had  to  do  with  the  adornment  of  the 
city,  the  improvement  of  its  public  works,  regulation  of  economic 
affairs,  such  as  fixing  the  prices  of  products,  wages,  and  the  levy 
of  local  taxes,  the  inspection  of  jails  and  hospitals,  administration 
of  the  public  lands  (of  which  more  anon)^  and  the  oversight  of 
public  morals.  All  of  these  cares  of  the  municipality  were  by  a 
cedula  of  1535  carefully  distinguished  as  administrative  and  not 
judicial,  so  as  to  forestall  the  intervention  of  the  judges  of  the 
audiencias  in  them.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  however,  the  cabildos 
were  in  all  of  the  above  matters  under  the  domination  of  the  co- 
rregidores  or  governors,  who  presided  over  them  and  had  the 
power  of  executing  the  acuerdos  (votes)  of  the  capitulares,  and 
these  decisions  they  often  modified  or  nullified  through  interpre- 
tation or  neglect.  The  corregidores  were  notorious  for  their  in- 
justice in  the  division  of  the  public  lands  and  in  their  efforts  to 
profit  personally  from  the  exercise  of  authority. 

•  '  The  cabiZrfo  deliberated  usually  in  secret^that  is,  there  were 
not  public  hearings  of  their  sessions,  and  the  capitulares  were 
bound  by  oath  to  maintain  secrecy  in  regard  to  their  deliberations. 
Notable  variation  from  this  procedure  occurred  when,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  negotiating  a  forced  loan  (donativo) ,  for  the  king,  the 
influential  and  well-to-do  members  of  the  community  were  in- 
vited to  join  what  was  known  as  the  "cabildo  abierto"  (open  town 
meeting). "  Such  meetings  occurred  frequently  in  Buenos  Aires 
during  the  seventeenth  century. ^"^ 

A  still  more  noteworthy  development  of  cabiZdo  government 
occurred  in  the  earlier  part  of  the  Spanish  domination.  In  the 
island  of  La  Espariola  there  began,  shortly  after  the  initiative  of 
the  settlers  had  brought  about  the  establishment  of  municipal 
governments,  the  practice  of  holding  assemblies  of  the  procura- 
dores  of  the  towns  after  the  manner  of  the  gatherings  of  the 
Cories' in  Spain.  These  convocations  had  the  right  of  assembling 
without  the  call  of  the  governors,  and  were  empowered  to  au- 
thorize the  latter  to  execute  whatever  might  be  conducive  to  the 
general  welfare.  This  created  a  type  of  resolution  which  was 
used  as  a  temporary  substitute  for  the  decision  of  the  Council  of 
the  Indies,  which,  arriving  tardily,  as  was  frequently  the  case, 
was  often  found  inapplicable  to  the  situation  which  it  was  in- 
tended to  affect.    The  assembly  of  the  procuradores  also  came  into 


'-Oarcia,  Op.  cit..  199-201  ;  cf.  Bernard  Mcses,  "The  Colonial  City."  Chap.  XVIII. 
Vo'.  II,  of  his  The  Spanish  Dependencies  in  South  Avierica. 


10  Spanish  Colonial  Municipalities 

vogue  in  Cuba ;  it  met  annually  at  Santiago  de  Cuba  for  the  pur- 
pose of  recommending  to  the  king  measures  of  state  interest  and 
reporting  to  him  the  necessities  of  the  island,  together  with  peti- 
tions that  he  supply  them.  This  practice  was  in  vogue  as  late  as 
1532  and  1540,  as  records  of  such  assemblages  bear  these  dates. 
On  the  continent  the  practice  was  continued,  particularly  in  New 
Spain  and  New  Castile,  where  the  congresses  of  the  towns  were 
recognized  by  Charles  V  in  cedulas  which  gave  to  Mexico  and  to 
Cuzco,  respectively,  the  right  to  the  first  vote  in  the  assemblies. 
During  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries  no  less  than  forty 
such  assemblies  were  held,  though  little  is  now  known  as  to  their 
history  and  effectiveness,  save  that  they  were,  of  course,  means 
of  communication  and  petition.'"  The  congresses  of  New  Spain, 
says  Alaman,  writing  of  the  beginning  of  the  independence  period, 
had  long  ceased  to  meet. 

Of  a  congress  of  the  towns  of  New  Spain  which  met  in  the 
year  1528,  it  is  recorded  that  the  purpose  of  the  convocation  was 
to  send  a  representative  to  court  with  suitable  instructions. 
Procuradores  of  the  towns  of  Mexico,  Vera  Cruz,  Espiritu  Santo, 
Colima,  and  San  Luis  participated  in  the  deliberations  "in  order 
to  discuss  and  vote  upon  what  might  be  to  the  service  of  God  and 
his  Majesty  and  to  the  perpetuity  of  this  land."  At  this  session, 
May  26,  two  procuradores  were  elected  to  be  sent  to  Spain.  On 
June  1,  another  session  voted  to  give  these  agents  a  salary  of  four 
ducats  per  diem  from  the  time  they  should  leave  Mexico  City 
until  they  should  have  fulfilled  their  mission.  The  towns  pro- 
rated among  themselves  a  fund  of  nearly  seventeen  hundred  pesos 
for  this  journey  in  the  following  proportions:  Mexico  paid  eight 
hundred  pesos,  Vera  Cruz  three  hundred,  Espiritu  Santo  seventy, 
Colima  fifty,  Zacatula  two  hundred  and  fifty,  San  Alfonso  de  los 
Zapotecas  fifty,  San  Luis  one  hundred.  In  1528,  when  Dr.  Ojeda 
was  making  a  voyage  to  Spain,  the  congress  had  voted  him  a  com- 
mission "to  nei^tiate  with  his  Majesty  to  have  granted  to  the  city 
of  Mexico,  in  the  name  of  this  New  Spain,  a  voice  and  vote  in  the 
Cortes  which  -his  Majesty  and  the  kings  his  successors  might  order 
convened."  This  privilege  was  granted.^'     •    '  •  •  •'- 

"Altamlrft,  Op.  cit.,.Tn,  Zl6,  cf.  Alam&n,  Op.  cit,  I,  39,  58. 

"Alamftn,  Disertncibnes  Sohreia  hisinrih  de' la  TfepuhUch  Mfneichva,  II,  315-816: 
e^jld.  I,  167,  259.  See  also  Coi>iu  dc  la  mayor  parte  y  mas  impor,tanU-  y  ntil  del 
Lioro  Primero  que  comicnza  en  orho  de  marro  de  l.')24  m  fivaliia  rtt'lO  de  hi'iio  de 
1529,  en  que  ae  asentaran  todos  los  cabiUloa  y  juntafi  Que  tnbo  la  J^oUiUsima  Ciudad 
de  Mexico  en  dicho  tiempo,  MS.  folio  237.  T.«Ttor  interesting  m.Ttorial  rtn  the  miinlripal 
r^Kime  of  Mexico  is  contained  In  tlie  J'raduaei^n  paleo{)rAfie<n  del  libro  cuarto  fie 
rahildo  de  In  Ciudad  de  Mexico.  Mexico.  1^74.  Tliis  iinnrint  covors  the  period  from 
January  1,  1536,  to  August  20,  1543.  The  pHntert  Artaa  del  Cabildo  del  avmitamiento 
eonatitutinnal  de  Mexico.  (Mexico,  1859-1905)  cover  the  years  1524  to  1619.  and  1.S83 
to   1898. 


Spanish  Colonial  Municipalities  11 

One  of  the  most  important  of  the  matters  which  concerned 
municipal  existence  in  the  Spanish  colonies  was  the  disposal  and 
utilization  of  the  land.  Whether  a  town  were  founded  by  a  con- 
queror or  by  a  group  of  voluntary  associates,  the  crown  theoretic- 
ally conceded  to  the  new  venture  a  grant  of  land  four  leagues 
square.  The  actual  amount  of  land  was,  of  course,  modified  by 
situation  and  other  physical  accidents.  The  basis  of  the  subdivi- 
sion (repartimiento)  of  the  land  was  to  provide  suitable  grazing 
and  arable  areas.  In  conformity  with  the  usual  European  cus- 
tom, land  for  residence  purposes  was  distinct  from  that  used  for 
other  purposes.  First,  then,  were  set  aside  at  the  center  of  the 
settlement  a  sufficient  number  of  town  lots  (solares),  around 
which  was  a  strip  of  commons  (ejidos)  for  various  communal 
uses;  beyond  these  were  the  dehesas  y  tierras  de  pasto,  or  graz- 
ing grounds,  and  the  municipal  grounds  (propios)  for  lease  for 
revenue  under  a  system  of  perpetual  leasehold  payment,  known 
as  the  censo.  Aside  from  these  lands,  there  was  apportioned  one- 
fourth  of  the  remainder  to  the  principal  conqueror,  and  the  re- 
mainder to  the  other  settlers  by  peonias  and  caballerias,  that  is, 
in  portions  for  footsoldiers  and  horsemen,  varying,  in  number 
granted  to  each  in  ratio  of  their  importance  or  merits.  It  would 
be  beside  the  present  subject  to  go  into  the  matter  of  the  disposal 
of  all  these  lands,  and  it  is  sufficient  to  say  that  it  was  from  the 
propios  that  the  municipality  expected,  when  it  had  them,  to 
derive  a  large  part  of  its  revenue.  Accretions  of  numbers  of  new 
citizens,  such  as  occurred  at  Buenos  Aires  after  the  original  allot- 
ments, invaded  the  areas  set  aside  as  propios  and  impoverished 
the  towns  in  proportion.  Often,  too,  there  were  no  lands  actually 
set  aside  and  utilized  as  propios,  so  that  municipalities  frequently 
lacked  entirely  this  source  of  revenue.  Other  income  was  pro- 
vided from  the  arbitrios,  which  were  duties  collected  by  the  towns 
from,  mercantile  business,  trades,  and  products.  From  all  sources 
the  ^um^  obtained  were  comparatively  meager,  and  the  control  of 
the  cabildo  over  them  was  limited  as  we  shall  see. 
t  :.'  The  establishment  of  a  city  of  importance  was  sometimes 
accompanied  by,  but  more  frequently  followed  by,  the  granting  of 
honors  and  distinctions  attended  by  pomp,  circumstance,  and 
formality.  These  were  not  uncommonly  conceded  for  the  payment 
or  gilt  of  large  sums  of  money  needed  by  the  monarch.  The  city 
was  for  some  such  consideration  granted  use  of  an  heraldic  device, 
the  svmbols  of  which  commemorated  noteworthv  features  of  the 


12  Spanish  Colonial  Municipalities 

locality,  an  incident  of  the  conquest,  or  the  union  of  the  city  with 
the  crown  of  Castile.'** 

The  title  of  Muy  noble  y  leal  was  usually  prefixed  to  the 
designation  of  the  city,  and  these  words  were  used  in  correspond- 
ence or  official  documents.  The  City  of  Mexico  was  by  order 
of  Charles  V^xjn  July  24,  1548,  designated  "La  muy  noble,  insigne, 
V  muy  leal  e  isrtperial  ciudad  de  Mexico,"  which  "shall  enjoy  the 
privileges  and  preeminences  of  grandee,  as  metropolis  of  this  New 
Spain."  In  the  official  correspondence  a  city  of  this  rank  was  ad- 
dressed as  "Ilustrisimo  Sefior." 

Pomp  and  ceremony  were  observed,  with  careful  regulation 
of  the  proper  precedence  of  the  municipal  officers,  when  the 
corporation  sallied  forth  "en  cabildo"  from  the  casa  de  ayunta- 
miento  upon  festival  occasions,  such  as  the  celebration  of  the 
town's  Saint's  Day,  to  meet  and  greet  a  new  viceroy,  governor, 
correffidor,  or  what  not.  The  installation  of  the  corregidor  of 
Mexico, -as  prescribed  by  the  ordinance  of  1728,  affords  a  good 
illustration  of  municipal  formality.'"  The  corregidor,  after  his 
election  by  the  king,  was  required  to  notify  the  cabildo  of  his  com- 
ing. That  body  went  out  in  array  to  meet  him  and  conducted  him 
to  the  viceroy,  of  whom  he  was  required  to  ask  permission 
to  present  his  title  to  the  audiencia.  This  arranged  for,  the  cabildo 
and  retiring  corregidor  conducted  the  new  appointee  to  the  town 
hall,  where  he  was  to  take  up  his  residence.  After  the  ceremony 
of  acknowledgement  of  his  title  by  the  audiencia;  a  day 
for  his  formal  reception  by  the  cabildo  was  set  by  the  ne  v  co- 
rregidor. At  this  quaint  ceremony  the  retiring  corregidor  and  the 
regidores  rose  to  their  f6et  with  bared  heads  as  the  new  co- 
rregidor entered  their  presence.  The  retiring  executive  receive:! 
into  his  hands  the  royal  appointment  of  his  successor,  kissed  it, 
and  placed  it  upon  his  head  in  token  of  obedience;  he  was  imitate  J 
in  this  formality  by  the  ranking  regidor,  the  other  cdpitulares  re- 
maining standing  the  while.  This  done,  the  new  corregidor  was 
required  to  take  an  oath  to  perform  his  office  well  and  faithfully, 
to  defend  the  purity  of  the  Immaculate  Conception  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  and  to  preserve  the  fueros  and  preeminences  of  the  city,  to 
keep  secret  the  business  conducted  in  cabildo,  and  to  strive  in  all 
things  to  keep  the  republic  in  peace,  doing  all  that  he  could  to 
promote  the  happiness  of  the  king's  vassals.    He  was  thereupon 


"Antonio   Peftafiel    reproduces   many   of   thes3   heraldic  devices   in   his   Ciudadea 
colonialea  v  capitalen  dd  la  RepuhUca  Mexicana.  5  vols.,  Mexico.  1908-14. 
'"Rodrfffuez  de  .San  Miguel,  Mannnl  de  provtdrncida,  pagps  187-247. 


Spanish  Colonial  Municipalities  13 

presented  with  the  staff  of  office,  which  was  the  public  symbol  of 
his  rank  and  importance.  Invested  therewith,  he  stepped  to  the 
right  hand  of  his  predecessor,  whom  he  thanked  and  congratu- 
lated. The  record  of  the  ceremony  was  required  to  be  kept  in  the 
minutes  of  the  Libro  de  Cabildo,  which  today  furnishes  so  much 
interesting  and  valuable  history  of  colonial  municipal  life.^** 

In  the  first  meeting  of  the  cabildo  after  his  Installation,  the 
new  corregidor  was  notified  that  he  must,  within  th'irty  days,  post 
bonds  for  the  residencia  (judicial  inquiry  concerning  administra- 
tive acts)  which  legally  attended  retirement  from  office  in  the 
Indies;  if  he  failed  to  do  so  he  was  to  forfeit  his  salary  for  the 
period  of  his  delay.  After  all  this  had  been  done,  the  new  corre- 
gidor escorted  his  predecessor  to  his  new  private  residence,  and 
then,  all  formalities  having  been  complied  with,  a  full  and  cir- 
cumstantial report  of  his  induction  into  office  was  sent  to  the 
viceroy  and  to  the  Council  of  the  Indies. 

How  insistent  the  cabildos  were  upon  their  privileges  and  pre- 
eminences is  shown  from  an  occurrence  wherein  the  cabildo  of 
Guatemala  came  into  conflict  with  the  royal  audiencia  residing  in 
the  same  capital  upon  the  occasion  of  the  reception  of  a  newly 
appointed  bishop  of  that  see.  In  1737  the  cabildo  complained  that 
it  had  been  prevented  from  seating  its  two  alcaldes  in  the  choir 
of  the  cathedral  in  the  seats  of  the  dean  and  the  archdeacon  dur- 
ing the  installation  of  the  bishop.  This  ancient  "fuero  y  privi- 
legio"  was  denied  the  secular  cabildo  by  the  religious  cabildo 
(chapter  of  the  cathedral).  The  president  of  the  audiencia  was 
appealed  to,  but  he  gave  no  comfort  to  the  insulted  alcaldes,  re- 
fusing to  intervene  for  them,  but  on  the  contrary  ordered  the 
secular  cabildo  to  attend  the  ceremony  in  a  body.  When  they  re- 
fused, he  designated  them  "inobedientes,"  fined  them  five  hun- 
dred pesos,  imprisoned  them,  and  deprived  them  of  their  arms 
and  insignia.  The  audiencia  named  new  alcaldes,  and  regidores, 
with  whose  attendance  the  installation  of  the  bishop  was  cele- 
brated.   The  crown  absolved  the  capitular es  of  their  fines  and 


^Among  the  municipal,  documents  available  in  print,  besides  those  for  Mexico 
City'  mentioned  above  in  Not^  17,  are  two  small  volumes  for  Guatemala,  edited  by 
Rafael  Ar^vola  :  Coleccion  de  documentos  antigiios  del  archivo  del  ayuntamiento  de  la 
Ciudad  d^  Guatemaln.  Oiiateniala.  1 S57  ;  and  Libro  de  act  as' del  avuntamiento  de  la- 
Ciudad  de  Santiago  de  Ctuateinala.  Coiu))rende  los  seis  vrimeros  aiios  de.ide  la  fnnda- 
ci6i}  de  Id  misma  ciiidad  en  1524  hasta  1530 ...:  .Guatemala,  lS5f).  Tf'or  Buenos  Aires 
there  have  been  published  the  Acnerdos  del  extinguido  cabildo  de  Buenos  Aires. 
1907-08,  and  the  Dornynentos  ii  pianos  relativos  al  perlodo  edilicio  colonial  de  la 
Civdad  de  Rnenos  Aires.  5  v.,  Buenos  Aires,  1910.  The  municipal  life  of  Santiago  de 
Chile  is  recorded,  with  documents,  in  M.  L.  AmunAtegnl,  El  Cabildo  de  Santiago, 
desde  1573  hasta  1581. 3.  volumes,  Santiago,  1890-91. 


14  Spanish  Colonial  Municipalities 

restored  them  to  their  positions  and  honors,  but  the  characteriza- 
tion of  "inohedientes"  was  left  standing.  To  overcome  this,  the 
capitulares  appealed  to  the  crown  to  order  the  audiencia  hence- 
forth to  observe  its  legal  limitations  and  not  interfere  with  the 
regulations  prescribed  for  ceremonies  in  which  cabildo  and  au- 
diencia were  to  participate.  In  November  of  1737,  the  king 
answered  this  petition  by  ordering  the  president  of  the  audiencia 
to  hear  both  the  audiencia  and  the  cabildo  and  report  his  findings 
to  the  Council  of  the  Indies.  His  report  the  following  year  showed 
that  the  audiencia  had  arrested  the  cabildo  "first,  to  maintain  its 
own  decorum  and  authority,  and,  second,  because  the  plebeians 
were  watching  to  see  what  would  happen  between  the  audiencia 
and  the  cabildo."  But,  as  the  capitulares  had  shown  that  their 
refusal  to  attend  the  installation  was  not  due  to  a  spirit  of  dis- 
obedience, but  merely  to  preserve  their  privileged  preference  in 
the  matter  of  seats,  the  president  judged  that  they  were  with- 
out real  blame. 

To  cut  the  story  short,  the  king  in  1740  ordered  that  the  au- 
diencia should  henceforth  refrain  from  attending  episcopal  in- 
stallations in  a  body,  and  that  the  alcaldes  ordinarios  be  restored 
to  the  ancient  seating  procedure  which  obtained  before  the  au- 
diencia began  (illegally)  to  participate  in  this  ceremony.-^  The 
incident  illustrates  the  length  to  which  municipal  bodies  were  will- 
ing to  go  to  maintain  their  "ancient  privileges,"  and  shows  how 
puerile  some  of  these  were.  It  also  points  illuminatingly  to  some 
of  the  difficulties  with  which  the  Spanish  crown  had  to  contend  in 
administering  its  colonies.  The  quarrel  had  lasted  three  years, 
and  numerous  hearings  had  been  held  both  in  Guatemala  and 
Madrid  before  the  childish  difference  was  settled.  Interest  at- 
taches also  to  the  fact  that  in  this  instance  the  cabildo  was  vic- 
torious over  the  audiencia;  rather  the  exception  than  the  rule. 

During  the  rule  of  the  House  of  Hapsburg  the  political  insti- 
tutions of  the  Spanish  empire  suffered  from  the  gradual  decay 
which  brought  threat  of  disintegration  at  the  time  of  the  demise 
of  the  last  monarch  of  that  line,  Charles  II.  When  the  House  of 
Bourbon  ascended  the  throne  in  the  person  of  Philip  V,  the  policy 
of  the  nation  became  one  of  general  reform,  based  on  the  French 
model  of  administration.  So  far  as  the  Indies  were  concerned 
there  were  not  marked  symptoms  of  this  change  until  the  time  of 


*'R.   Arfevalo.   como.,   Colecciiin  de  documentoa  antipiioa  del  archivo   del  aijunta- 
miento  de  la  citidad  de  Guatemala,  9-13. 


Spanish  Colonial  Municipalities  15 

Charles  III  (1759-1788).  That  benevolent  despot  began  his  pro- 
gram of  rehabilitation  by  sending  to  New  Spain  the  distinguished 
visitor-general,  Jose  de  Galvez.  This  minister  was  instructed, 
among  other  things,  to  take  note  of  the  condition  of  the  munici- 
palities, particularly  for  the  purpose  of  reforming  their  financial 
systems  so  as  to  prevent  malversation  of  funds,  the  conspicuous 
sin  of  municipal  administration.  In  1767  he  began  this  work  while 
on  a  visit  to  the  northern  provinces  of  the  viceroyalty.  The  cities 
of  San  Luis  Potosi  and  Guadalajara  were  found  to  have  allowed 
their  cabildos  to  fall  into  desuetude,  a  condition  widespread  in 
Spanish  America  at  that  time.  In  San  Luis  Potosi  there  were 
only  two  regidores,  and  these  mere  lieutenants  and  not  proprie- 
tarios  as  they  should  have  been ;  one  of  them  was  also  alcalde  or- 
dinario,  which  he  should  not  have  been.  Galvez  accordingly 
caused  six  new  regidores  to  be  elected  for  a  term  of  one  year,  the 
number  thus  being  made  eight.  The  city  was  also  now  divided 
into  ten  barrios,  or  wards,  each  of  which  was  placed  under  con- 
trol of  a  regidor  or  an  alcalde.  A  list  of  all  the  resident  tributaries 
was  ordered  made,  and  the  neglected  practice  of  guarding  the 
municipal  treasure  by  use  of  the  strong  box  with  three  keys  was 
restored  according  to  law.  Similar  provisions  for  the  revivification 
of  Guanajuato  were  made  by  the  visitor-general  at  this  time. 

Upon  his  return  to  the  capital,  Galvez  found  that  an  investi- 
gation of  the  cities  of  the  viceroyalty  which  he  had  inaugurated 
had  disclosed  unbelievable  disorder  and  confusion  in  municipal 
finance.  In  many  towns  no  account  books  had  been  kept  at  all, 
even  for  the  simplest  receipts  and  expenditures.  '  The  situation 
was  so  bad  that  it  was  thought  wise  to  establish  in  Mexico  City 
a  contaduria  general  which  should  keep  the  accounts  of  all  the 
municipalities.  After  the  establishment  of  this  accounting  office 
no  expenditures  of  city  funds  might  be  made  by  regidores  withr 
out  prior  consent  of  the  contador  general.  Plainly  this  reduced 
the  municipalities  to  a  level  of  irresponsibility  which  was  later 
to  be  surpassed  by  the  provisions  of  the  Ordinance  of  the  Inten- 
dants,  which  went  into  partial  effect  in  1786. 

For  the  City  of  Mexico  the  reforms  of  Galvez  were  embodied 
in  an  ordinance  promulgated  by  the  viceroy  in  1771.  The  essential 
feature  of  this  ordinance  was  the  increase  of  responsibility  placed 
upon  the  municipal  officers  with  decrease  of  salaries  and  fees. 
Duties  such  as  the  inspection  of  markets,  of  weights  and  measures 
and  other  cares  grouped  under  the  heading  of  policia  (good  gov- 


16  Spanish  Colonial  Municipalities 

ernment)  were  still,  as  under  the  old  regulations,  to  be  per- 
formed by  committees  of  the  regidores  in  annual  turn,  but  with- 
out the  extra  pay  which  had  previously  been  conceded.  The  in- 
dependence of  the  corporation  was,  by  the  minute  provisions  of  the 
ordinance,  reduced  to  the  vanishing  point. 

Interference  of  the  viceroy  with  the  municipal  body  was  em- 
phasized by  another  ordinance  emanating  from  the  visitor  and 
the  viceroy  for  minute  regulation  of  the  bakers'  guild  of  the 
capital.  There  were  at  that  time,  or  shortly  after,  some  fifty 
guilds  of  trades  workers  in  the  city,  management  of  which  gave 
to  the  government  much  concern.  These  might  well  have  been 
cared  for  by  the  cahildo;  but  when  the  viceroy  of  a  great  kingdom 
like  New  Spain,  twice  as  large  as  modern  Mexico,  could  descend 
to  the  details  of  regulating  the  number  of  bakeshops  and  the  size 
and  price  of  loaves  while  the  fieles  executor es  (judges  of  weights 
and  measures)  of  the  cahildo  sat  by  in  silence  waiting  the  issue  of 
his  dispensation,  there  could  have  been  little  left  to  the  discretion 
or  self-respect  of  the  cahildo. 

The  Galvez  reforms  contained  still  another  manifestation  of 
the  centralizing  policy  of  Charles  III.  This  was  the  appointment 
by  the  viceroy  of  six  regidores  honorarios  to  sit  with  the  twelve 
(later  fifteen)  elected  and  hereditary  capitular  es,  without  salary 
and  in  a  purely  advisory  capacity.  This  was  in  emulation  of  the 
new  system  then  in  force  in  Madrid.  The  purpose  was,  of  course, 
to  give  the  viceroy  closer  oversight  of  municipal  affairs  and  en- 
able him  better  to  oppose  the  radical  Creole  element  by  drawing  his 
appointees  frorh  the  more  conservative  Spanish  group.  The  reg- 
ular members  of  the  cahildo  were  restive  under  the  new  arrange- 
ment, and  in  1794  obtained  the  power  to  nominate  the  honorarios; 
this  continued  until  independence,  and  of  course,  did  away  with 
the  effectiveness  intended  by  their  institution.^^ 

The  municipal  reforms  initiated  by  Galvez  during  the  visita- 
tion of  New  Spain  were  incorporated  in  the  legislation  estab- 
lishing the  intendancies  which  went  into  partial  effect  in  New 
Spain  in  1786,  similar  legislation  having  previously  been  applied 


^Refflninento  e  instruccion  del  visitndor  general  Don  Jos^  dc  (Jdlves  para  la 
Nobitiaima  Cindad  de  Mexico,  mandada  obaervar  por  el  Marques  de  Ci'oia  en  decreto  de 
22  de  Enero  del  niio  de  1771    (Mexico.  1771),  passim. 

Replamento  del  premio  de  panadems  dr  efita  rapital  para  sn  abasto  y  ereccidn  de 
un  poaito  de  trigoa  }/  harinaa  a  bcneficio  de  an  comnn   (Mexico,   1771),  passim. 

Revilla  Gigedo,  Juan  Vicfnte,  Inafrncrinn  rcaervada  que  el  Conde  de  RevUla 
Oigedo  did  a  au  auceaor  en  el  mnndo.  Marques  de  Branciforte,  aobre  el  gobierno  de 
eate  rontinente  en  rl  tiempn  en  que  fue  lu  vireu   »  Mp.xIco,   1831),  Articles  154-156. 

Priestley,  H.  I.,  Joa^  de  Odlvez,  Vtaitor- general  <'  New  Spain,  1765-1771.  222- 
26.   296-303. 


Spanish  Colonial  Municipalities  17 

in  some  measure  in  Havana  in  1764  and  in  New  Spain  itself  by 
Galvez  in  1765  (he  being  an  intendente  de  ejercito  himself),  and 
in  Peru  in  1782.  The  viceroy  Revilla  Gigedo  was  obliged  to  con- 
fess in  1794,  however,  that  the  provisions  of  the  Ordenanza  con- 
cerning municipal  regulation  had  not  yet  been  enforced."  Under 
its  provisions,  the  intendentes  (who  superseded  the  governors  and 
corregidores)  were  supposed  to  frame  regulations  for  the  control 
of  town  revenues  derived  from  lands  and  buildings,  that  is,  the 
propios.  These  regulations  they  were  to  submit  to  the  Junta 
Superior  de  Real  Hacienda  (the  standing  administrative  commit- 
tee of  the  treasury  system)  for  approval,  but  they  had  neglected, 
said  the  viceroy,  to  do  either.  As  a  result,  there  was  no  improve- 
ment in  the  chronic  malady  of  the  municipalities.  "Malversation 
of  public  funds  is  a  common  and  inveterate  evil ....  concerning 
which  Jose  de  Galvez ....  later  marques  de  Sonora,  labored  most 
and  gathered  least  f  ruit."^* 

But  the  life  of  the  municipality  was  depressed  in  other  ways 
than  those  which  affected  finance.  Under  the  Ordenanza  de  In- 
tendentes the  local  autonomy  was  completely  prostrated  by  the  ab- 
sorptive action  of  the  Junta  Superior  de  Real  Hacienda,  the  vice- 
roy, and  the  "intendant-governors."  Francisco  de  Croix  in 
Mexico  exercised  his  viceregal  talents  in  supervising  the  cleaning 
of  the  streets,  (at  a  later  day  Revilla  Gigedo  was  fain  to  order  the 
dung-hills  out  of  the  thoroughfares)  repairing  roads,  providing 
pure  water,  public  baths,  illumination,  hospitals,  jails,  foundling 
homes,  and  so  on.  All  were,  of  course,  necessary  and  valuable  im- 
provements, bringing  the  vassals  willy-nilly  into  contact  with  the 
amenities  of  civilization,  but  the  tragedy  lay  in  the  spirit  of  the 
system  which  brought  the  viceroy,  the  alter  nos  of  royalty,  draw- 
ing a  salary  of  eighty  thousand  pesos  per  annum,  to  performing 
tasks  which  lesser  men  could  have  done  as  well  if  educated  to 
responsibility  and  given  normal  outlet  for  self-expression  in  ac- 
tivities which  form  beneficent  safety-valves  to  large  groups  of 
citizens  who  in  flourishing  democracies  find  fields  thus  opened 
to  them  for  useful  public  service. 

The  Ordenanza  gave  the  cabildo,  so  far  as  it  was  the  means 
of  conserving  the  self-respect  of  the  towns,  the  coup  de  grace.  Its 
nullity,  long  existent,  was  now  given  the  sanction  of  law,  the 
capitulares  being  given  the  merely  routine  drudgery  imposed  by 
central  authority. 


^''Revilla  Gisedo,  Instruccidn  reservada,  ubi  simra  ;  Real  ordenanza  para  el  estab- 
lecimiento  e  instruccidn  de  ivtende^ites   (Madrid,   1786),  Articles  2S-5r>. 
2<Revilla  Gigedo,  Instruccidn  reservada,  ubi  supra. 


18  Spanish  Colonial  Municipalities 

The  intendant  of  the  province  presided  over  the  cabildo  (as 
had  the  governor,  theoretically,  before  him),  kept  the  accounts 
of  the  propios;  and  reported  the  condition  of  finances  to  the  Junta 
Superior,  or  else  as  in  Mexico,  neglected  to  do  this  at  all.  He 
divided  the  town  funds  into  groups,  that  is,  budgeted  them,  as 
prescribed  by  the  Ordenanza,  being  guided  in  his  expenditures  by 
the  hard  and  fast  provisions  of  the  general  law.  To  complete  the 
control,  the  regidores  were  practically  eliminated  from  interven- 
tion in  fiscal  matters  by  the  appointment  of  municipal  juntas 
composed  of  the  alcalde  ordinario,  two  regidores,  and  the  procu- 
rador.  These  committees  had  authority  to  manage  city  funds 
without  the  intervention  of  the  other  capitulares.  The  intendant 
also  took  over  the  supervision  of  agriculture,  commerce,  mining, 
forests,  roads,  streets,  inns,  public  parks,  and  municipal  buildings. 
He  or  his  asesor  (adviser)  took  over  the  guidance  of  municipal 
justice.  In  this  duty  the  asesor  letrado  preserved  the  tradition  of 
bulldozing  the  regidores  with  the  same  tyrannical  cynicism  that 
had  been  the  chief  characteristic  of  the  deposed  corregidor.  The 
Ordenanza  prescribed  the  intervention  of  the  intendant  or  his 
asesor  in  matters  of  justice  "to  prevent  the  municipal  judges  from 
acting  with  partiality,  passion,  or  vengeance."-'^  But  the  asesor 
took  it  upon  himself  to  intrude  in  all  the  deliberations  of  the 
cabildo;  indeed,  his  manner  of  doing  so  was  not,  as  instanced  at 
Santiago  de  Chile,  calculated  to  retard  the  inevitable  process 
which  eventuated  in  independence.  "The  asesor  letrado,"  it  was 
reported  to  the  king,  "does  not  treat  the  cabildo  with  that  respect 
and  moderation  imposed  by  law  and  ceremonial.  He  interrupts 
with  insulting  words  the  most  serious  functions  of  this  respectable 
congress.  To  make  detailed  statement  of  the  outrages  which 
have  been  endured  by  the  members  of  this  venerable  corporation 
of  the  republic  would  be  to  descend  to  petty  prolixity  or  to  con- 
fess excessive  affection  for  distinctions ;  hence,  let  it  suffice  to  say 
that  ever  since  the  asesor  assumed  his  duties  there  has  been  none 
of  that  peace  which  was  enjoyed  in  earlier  but  less  quiet  times,  be- 
cause he  believes  that  he  can  make  his  opinion  prevail  in  the  ses- 
sions of  the  ayuntamiento  against  the  opinions  of  all  the  rest,  by 
interrupting  and  depreciating  in  harsh  and  insulting  phrases  the 
opinions  which  he  considers  opposed  to  his  own."^^ 


*^Real  ordenanza,  article  28;  Garcia,  La  ciudad  indiana,  293-. 

■Klatcfa.  I.o  ciiidad  indiana,  p.  294,  citinff  M.  T..  Amunfttegui,  Loa  precuraorea  de 
la  independencia  de  Chile 3  volumes,  Santiago,  1870-1872. 


Spanish  Colonial  Municipalities  19 

In  resume  then,  it  is  apparent  that  the  municipality  was 
brought  to  the  New  World  with  the  tradition  of  the  ante-sixteenth 
century  autonomy  still  alive,  but  that  the  expression  of  that  auto- 
nomy in  America  was  a  mere  flicker  of  the  old-time  independence 
extinguished  by  Charles  V  on  the  field  of  Villalar.  The  embryo- 
nic Cortes  survived  for  more  than  a  century  in  America,  but  only 
by  sufferance  of  the  monarch,  and  representation  of  the  towns 
in  the  Spanish  Cortes  suffered  all  the  vicissitudes  of  the  penin- 
sular organization  plus  the  inherent  difficulties  of  great  distance, 
stormy  seas  to  cross,  and  the  tradition  of  colonial  subordination  to 
peninsular  welfare.  While  the  colonies  grew  in  population,  while 
the  cities  developed  in  size  and  opulence,  their  juridicial  status, 
which  should  have  kept  pace  with  material  success,  was  consistent- 
ly sacrificed  by  a  policy  which  feared  the  Creole  and  meztizo, 
which  based  colonial  welfare  and  imperial  integrity  on  the  exclu- 
sion of  the  colonist  from  participation  in  la  cosa  publica  because 
he  was,  as  a  result  of  the  completion  of  the  vicious  circle,  very 
seriously  incapacitated  for  proper  discharge  of  the  duties  of 
citizenship.  Small  wonder  that  the  cities,  thwarted  in  the  norm- 
al development  by  centralist  control,  became  the  centers  of  re- 
volt and  separation  from  Spain.  After  that,  once  free  from  the 
decrepitude  of  the  declining  control  of  the  fatherland,  they  became 
centers  of  separatism  and  disintegration  that  defied  for  nearly  a 
century  the  development  of  reasoned  and  self-directed  nationalism. 

Herbert  Ingram  Priestley. 

University  of  California,  Berkeley,  California. 


■^ 


